BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The parliamentary election in Azerbaijan has run openly and freely, General Director of the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies (Russia), observer for the election, Igor Korotchenko told Trend.
"Having visited a number of polling stations, we noted that the election has been conducted freely and competitively. People have been going to vote because they understand the importance of the new parliament's composition," he said.
Korotchenko emphasized that this day is important for Azerbaijan's political system, as it concerns the election of parliament members, the new legislative body.
"For the first time, parliamentary elections have been held under the full sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. It's crucial for the state to have a political system capable of responding to any challenges and, most importantly, being resilient. The stability of Azerbaijan's political system is the foundation and basis for confident progress," he added.
Voting in the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan has concluded at 19:00 (GMT +4).
On June 28, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree dissolving the sixth convocation of the Azerbaijani Parliament and scheduling the extraordinary election for September 1.
Azerbaijan has 6,421,960 registered voters, including 374 who turned 18 on the election day. There are 6,478 polling stations, comprising 6,343 permanent and 135 temporary locations.
In the territories liberated from occupation, 54 permanent polling stations were set up. There were 10 electoral districts for internally displaced persons (IDPs), with 574 IDP polling stations serving 397,862 voters.
A total of 112,749 local observers have been registered, including over 65,000 representatives of political parties. There are 598 international observers from 51 organizations and 69 countries, including 227 from OSCE/ODIHR and 61 from OSCE PA.
Among the 990 registered candidates, 305 represent 25 political parties, while 371 are party members but were not nominated by their parties. In total, 676 candidates are affiliated with political parties.
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